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Recording Teenage Sins and Tragedies

Party movies have been a dying breed in cinema, and the last film that really hit home with the majority of audiences was the beloved summer 2007 hit “Superbad.” Arriving to try and steal its thunder is the raunchy, found footage party movie “Project X.” Vastly marketed as “the party movie to end all party movies,” “Project X” is actually a tragic portrait of the stupidity of certain teenage demographics that really shows how downward this current generation has gone in terms of culture and intelligence.

Opening with an insultingly inept disclaimer that Warner Bros. “thanks those who contributed footage to the making of this film,” the film quickly cuts to Costa (Oliver Cooper), who’s planning a massive 17th birthday party for his friend Thomas (Thomas Mann). After lots of preparation and word of mouth, the party kicks off and hundreds of people show up, later leading to complete chaos that threatens the entire street that the party is taking place on.

The three lead characters are played by rookie actors, and they all do an OK job at best with their performances. Except for the character of Thomas, nearly every other character is a despicable representation of this current teenage generation.

The character Costa, for instance, is one of the most annoying and mean-spirited characters I have ever seen in a film. Throughout the film, he does nothing more than deliver repetitive, foul-mouthed lines of dialogue, deliberately insults anyone who gets in his way and acts like a complete jackass as the party goes on. I have seen some pretty annoying characters in my life for the endless amount of movies I’ve seen, but I honestly wanted to stab this kid in his vocal cords with an ice pick because he annoyed the hell out of me to such an immense degree.

The first 30 minutes of this movie that built up to the party itself had me wanting to walk out of the theater already. All that it does is showcase one idiotic act after another, highlighting the incredibly mean-spirited, annoying nature that nearly every teenager in this movie portrays.

The movie didn’t generate any entertainment for me until the cops first arrived at the party. After that scene, the film slowly transcends into the complete chaos that you see in the trailers, and it delivers on the insanity to an extent. Unfortunately, the shock value of that chaos is ruined because it was already heavily spoiled in the marketing; the same goes for the unexpected occurrences that happen at the party.

Furthermore, the found footage aspect doesn’t do anything new to the genre as a whole. One of the trio’s friends is filming the majority of the film, but that tactic is overshadowed by the cutting to other people’s phone cameras and camcorders, in addition to the numerous montages set to popular music. The utilization of those montages took me further out of the experience, and it gave me the feeling that I was watching a music video instead of an actual movie.

The worst part of “Project X” though, is the message that it delivers in the end, saying that it’s OK to do everything that these inanely idiotic teenagers did at the party. Whether it’s the non-stop drinking, ecstasy use or even tying a dog to a set of balloons, it sends such a bad message to teenagers that these acts are actually considered as acceptable conduct.

What pisses me off the most about this film are the comparisons it’s receiving to “Superbad.” Those comparisons have zero relevance because “Superbad” was a raunchy, hilarious high school movie that had heart within the friendship of the lead characters. On the other hand, “Project X” doesn’t showcase that heart, and instead submerges itself within the idiocracies that have sadly shaped certain aspects of this current teen generation.

Despite very few moments of amusement in the chaos caused toward the end, “Project X” is one of the most annoying, mean-spirited and unfunny movies that I’ve ever seen. If you’re the party-type person that this movie is aimed toward, you’re bound to enjoy it. As for me, I’d just rather watch “Animal House” or “Superbad” again.

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